Yaak residents ramp up Community Hall rehab efforts

The ladies leading the Yaak Community Hall restoration effort are working hard to see it through - one careful stitch at a time.

The hall, which will see its 100th birthday this summer on July 4, is in dire need of rehabilitation to keep it going another 100 years.

The large, sturdy logs from the mighty larch trees that grow in the area provided a foundation for most of the last century. But the lowest level of have deteriorated to the point where the interior floor is sagging and unsafe to use.

The Yaak Community Hall Board has led a relentless fundraising effort that is closing in on $50,000. Their efforts have also put them in position to get a substantial state grant in excess of $100,000.

It started with a generous gift from the Yaak Women’s Club - $6,100.

On a recent Saturday morning, several community members sat down at the Yaak residence of Sandy Beder-Miller and Larry Miller to share how the hall has kept the small community bound together for the centennial.

“The hall has hosted school events, church, Shakespeare in the Park, dances, funerals, weddings, even basketball games,” Dianne Downey said. 

Beder-Miller said saving and preserving the hall is also saving the history of the Yaak, a region unquestionably rich in lore.

“When you talk to the old-timers, you realize how much history exists here,” she said. “We want to preserve that. We want to make sure there is a place where everyone can get together for the next 100 years to share those stories. We’ve tried to gather elsewhere, we tried to use the gun club, but it’s just not the same. It’s important for the next generation we do this.”

Downey, a member of the Yaak Women’s Club, said it wasn’t easy letting go the responsibility for the hall.

“It was hard to let it go, but we realized it was necessary,” she said.

Part of the group’s fundraising includes two quilts. One is hand-made, more than 40 years old, while the other is new, one the ladies hope will also be part of the hall’s history.

The older quilt was also used for fundraising efforts and raffled off by the Yaak Women’s Club. The winner, Zelta Romeko, recently passed away and her family donated it back to the group.

The quilt is being displayed on the group’s on-line auction site, Bidding Owl (www.biddingowl.com). The auction closes at 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 30.

“The older quilt shares the history of the Yaak,” Beder-Miller said. “Each panel is hand made and some are very humorous.”

One example of the humor is a panel with an outhouse. Its inscription reads, “There was a young couple from Yaak whose outhouse was out in the back. They both broke all records when they had to go at forty below.”

It is one of many items available on Bidding Owl. Others include handmade jewelry, clothing, art, photography, antler sheds, a homemade teddy bear, handmade skinning knife, a two-night stay in a rustic cabin and literature about the fabled Yaak region.

Fans of the History Channel’s “Mountain Man” show have a chance at bidding on items made by Tom Oar, Paul Antczak and Will Stringfellow.

In addition, creations by Yaakers Dori Goodwin, Ed Kuropat, Chiena Bridges, Alan McNeil, Kristy Hensel, Randy Beacham and the estate of Ron Brown, are also available.

The latest quilt will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the hall and a true demonstration of teamwork that exists among the current group working to save the building.

Diana Wilson, Bonnie Surrell, Cheri Javorsky, Judy Cyr, and Lynn Edwards have all had a big hand in making the 52-inch by 72-inch quilt as well as the folks at Stitchin' Dreams Quilting, Bonners Ferry, with their long-arm machine.

It was Surrell’s idea to make a new quilt for the new raffle and Wilson has done the bulk of the work on it. Cyr made some of the panels, including one of flying geese.

“Diana asked me to make a label for the back of the quilt,” Javorsky said. “I have an embroidery machine and was to get it made. It’s something to know this will be part of history one day.”

While not alone in the endeavor, Edwards did a great deal of shopping to make sure the group had the right materials for the quilt.

“For some, the quilt will be a remembrance and for others, it will be a historical document or a lasting keepsake,” Surrell said. “I got hooked on the Yaak’s historical community and I’m so thankful to all of you for being involved and that I can be a part of it.”

In terms of the potential grant from the Montana Department of Commerce’s Historic Preservation Grant Program, board treasurer Robyn King and Heart of the Rockies Initiative's Rural Initiatives Manager Kara Maplethorpe put together the application that is poised to net the Hall Board $168,000.

The money for the program comes from the state lodging tax. The state legislature approved the Montana Museums Act of 2020, which increased the bed tax from 3% to 4%.

The Hall Board’s fundraising efforts have already secured the required 20% match.

“Our communities are very generous,” King said. “We’ve had 600 hours of volunteer time and we’re going to keep fundraising as we anticipate costs going up so we can get floor repaired and get a crawl space installed.”

King said the Hall's rehabilitation work includes excavation, fixing the old logs, replacing the floor and creating a crawl space for the possibility of adding plumbing to the facility.

“This is using tourism dollars in rural communities and it has really brought the community together in a very productive way,” King said.

The grant request, part of House Bill 12, has already sailed through the state House of Representatives on March 19 by a 70-28 vote with bipartisan support. Democrats approved the measure by a 37-4 margin while Republicans backed it 33-24.

The bill had its first reading in the Senate March 20 and was referred to the Finance and Claims Committee the same day. It was set to be heard March 28.

King brought Maplethorpe into the mix to provide technical assistance in grant writing. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in natural resources wildlife management and biology from Northland College in Wisconsin.

Maplethorpe is clearly pleased to be involved with the project and the community. One thing to keep an eye out for is House Bill 916, which would revise lodging tax allocation related to property tax relief. The bill could cut available funding to the Montana Historic Preservation Grant."

Introduced March 28, the measure had its first hearing in the Committee on Taxation March 31 and was tabled April 1.

    Members of the Yaak quilting team include, from left, are Larry Miller, Sandy Beder-Miller, Bonnie Surrell, Sarah Rusnak and Dianne Downey. (Scott Shindledecker/The Western News)